Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,70

had dissipated, and Greg was back to he-could-do-this again.

“Popular class,” Taylor said, looking around. “That’s encouraging.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“If everyone will take a seat,” a woman down front said into a headset mic that easily carried her voice across the room. In no time, quiet befell the room. “Good evening, everyone. I’m Jessica Leigh, Senior Professor of Film Studies. She looked out over the vast assembly. “I would like to introduce you to my assistants. Assistants.”

Several students standing in the aisles raised their hands and waved.

“Throughout the course of this semester, you will be writing papers, and those will be graded on a rotating basis by my assistants, so be nice to them.”

A few people laughed.

Greg glanced down and snagged on the doodle sketch Taylor was doing in her notebook. It was an intricate woven pattern, like the outer bands of a mirror that would hang on a wall in a billionaire’s house. Without looking at her or like he was looking at it, he slid down a bit in his seat and watched her as she added to it piece-by-piece. It was fascinating.

“Please hand the syllabi down the aisles,” Professor Leigh said, and Greg complied.

“There will be five graded assignments in this class, several online discussion posts, and two tests—a midterm and a final.”

Already this was looking more daunting even as he simply looked over the syllabus. Maybe this class wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“We will watch a film each week and discuss elements of it the following week. I suggest you take notes so you can analyze as we go along. I do not suggest that you skip any film as the elements we go over about them will be on the tests. As for the written essay assignments, there are five films throughout the semester that will be used for the written assignments. The assignments are to be three-to-four pages, typed, double-spaced, normal margins, and normal font-size. Don’t try to cheat. I will know it, and your grade will reflect it. Standard English, MLA-style rules to all written work. With the five assigned films, you will be required to find a second film with some parallel element in it to compare and contrast to the film we watch in class.

“Possible parallels might be an actor or actress that appears in both films. It could be a thematic element such as time travel or a certain time period or setting. If you are concerned that a film you are considering might not fit, please feel free to email the assistant over your section on that assignment.

“And now, if there are no questions.” She paused only a couple seconds. “Good, then I’d like to just dive right in.”

Greg wrote the date and Film Studies at the top of the page.

“Film is collaborative art. It takes many skilled and talented people with their own unique ‘voices,’ coming together synergistically to create a film that is entertaining and hopefully even enlightening. We watch films that explain the world and this thing we call life in many different ways, and when we watch films, we are taken into the imaginations of amazing people we will probably never meet and may not even realize exist.

“Because music videos have many of the same elements of film but they are shorter, we will be examining and analyzing a few of them throughout this course as well. I’d like to start with this one.” Professor Leigh clicked a couple of buttons on a handheld remote she had, and the room dimmed as the huge screen behind her came to life.

Sitting up, Greg fixed his attention there. All things Taylor would have to just chill for a while.

“First, I would like you to simply watch the video and be prepared to give me general and specific feedback on what you see.” She started the playback, and Greg wrote Lindsey Stirling, Something Wild. He actually liked this song though it was an older one. He had watched Pete’s Dragon, the movie it had come from, when he was younger; however, he didn’t remember much about it other than the flying dragon.

Violin, he wrote. Piano. Park. Kids playing. Maps drawn. Felt so wrong. He loved to watch Lindsey play because she flowed with the music more than simply playing it. That’s how he felt when the band was really on during a performance. Find another way. He hadn’t remembered the lyrics being this captivating or there being a storyline to the music video. Two people who as kids